Twenty-three
Castle Brightmoon
Etheria
4 Sept 2017
Lieutenant Thomas Garber and Lieutenant Kent Howard had had Beta and Delta platoons scrambling to set up defenses inside and outside of Castle Brightmoon ever since Guardians Gatling Arm and Claw arrived with news of the assault beginning against Hordak's planetary cannon. Two dropships arrived with more supplies for the castle, along with various armaments for the platoons.
The carriers assigned to the platoons were stripped of all useful systems: remote sentries and portable missile systems. Munitions rifles, grenade launchers, sidearms, and other useful gear were stored in strategic points around the castle with extra rifles and pistols.
A second dropship run delivered the bulk of Alpha platoon and news of the assault run. Eternia had taken off in a hurry to the south. No reason given other than to get Castle Brightmoon ready to repel a Horde attack. No such attack appeared on the horizon, but the defenders didn't question the orders.
Corporal Frost and his spotter staked out a position up in the contoured battlements where he could cover the main approach. The advantage of the castle's location was that an attacker could only come from one direction. The disadvantage was there was no place to withdraw to if the castle had to be abandoned. Queen Angella was first on the point that that would not happen again. So, the people from Earth set the best defense they could with what they had.
Having four of the six Guardians on site didn't hurt, either.
Hours after the attack on the cannon was to have begun, confirmation came over the APC's comm system of the cannon's spectacular demise. The defenders had seen a part of the blinding blast that lit up the sky to the southwest. Within thirty minutes, the rumbling roar marking the demise of the planetary cannon rolled across the landscape. The news quickly made the rounds and gave everyone hope for the coming battle, but it was quickly tempered by the fact that no one had heard from the Ladyhawke. And that Hordak was going to strike back soon.
Hard.
Scouts had been sent out on electric motorcycles to search for the enemy and get a reading on what was heading their way.
He-man and She-ra prowled the corridors of the castle, wisely staying out of the way. They felt just as useless as Castaspella did at the moment. It was hard to let others prepare for the fight ahead when they were used to doing it themselves. For the twins, it stemmed from not having the swords which gave them their power.
For Castaspella, it was different. She was a guest of her friend, Angella, but badly wanted to get back to her realm and take it back from her evil cousin. Unlike Brightmoon, Mystacor still had hundreds of defenders and intact defenses.
The trio eventually made their way to the throne room near the back of the ground level where Angella and her daughter were also staying out of the way. A commotion in the outer corridor drew the group's attention. Incredulous, they ventured out into the wide corridor.
Armored troopers were dropping whatever task they were doing and rushing to the front of the castle. The group was swept along as much by the troopers running for the main gates as they were by their own curiosity.
The scene greeting the people was unthinkable. A large group of villagers trudged up the dusty main road carrying whatever meager belongings they could grab before leaving their homes. Word quickly spread from the front lines that waves of people were headed north, driven out by the Horde army heading for Brightmoon.
Angella didn't think, she acted. Castaspella and company quickly joined in and took charge of getting the villagers into the castle. One small village had already been cleared by the Horde after the Earth people had destroyed the scout force searching for them. Now, others were being sent on the run. It was a calculated ploy by the Horde to sow confusion and attempt to overwhelm the defenders with a humanitarian crisis, then strike while the defenders were occupied.
What the Horde didn't know was how well the crisis could be managed. Waves of people ranging from a few to dozens to a large group of over a hundred people arrived looking for shelter. All of them drew strength from seeing their queen returned to her throne. All of them were shocked and relieved to see He-man and She-ra; many wept in the belief that maybe the tide was finally going to turn on Etheria. That maybe Hordak's iron grip on the planet might finally slacken and be eventually broken altogether. The twins had their doubts but kept them private, putting on brave faces and telling all the villagers that they were going to be all right.
The twins especially had their doubts about being able to hold out against a Horde army of any size. But, then, they hadn't had more than a brief glimpse of what the Guardian Force, and the Guardians in particular, were capable of when they were liberated from the prison planet not so long ago.
One of the scouts finally reported in on the size and composition of the Horde army moving relentlessly in their direction. It had the usual mix of tanks supported by infantry troopers. However, the vehicle types were one never seen before by the Guardian Force. Quad-barreled units the Val-kyrie called the Quickdraw guarded the flanks, while the core was made up of the tri-barreled Longbow heavy tanks. A force of ten Gunslinger units trailed the core section for air suppression. Other units included the mix of scout, medium and heavy drones. Twenty-foot tall mobile towers armed with pulse cannons and grenade launchers for infantry suppression called Hunter/Killer – H/K – machines. Spread throughout the formation were Devastator mobile artillery units. These eighty-ton behemoths could hurl an explosive shell almost twenty-five miles with pinpoint accuracy.
While all of that was disheartening enough, the proverbial final nail in the coffin was the formation of thirty-foot tall machines in trail of the Horde army. Their composition and abilities varied, but the designs were very familiar to the Guardian Force.
Monstroids.
It was no secret that the sentient machines were allied with Hordak. So, it would have been no surprise to see them on the battlefield. But seeing them this early was.
The defenders of Brightmoon had four Guardians on the battle line. The upgrades made by the Val-kyrie had yet to be put to a real test. That test was on the way. If machine and operator were to become truly in sync with each other, as Adrian had demonstrated on several occasions, nothing and no one could stop them.
The final group of refugees was hustled into the castle. Soldiers sent the group down the main corridor to the throne room and adjoining chambers deep in the heart of the castle. Once the civilians were clear, the soldiers took up station along the corridor and prepared for the fight ahead.
The front line of the Horde force broke through the tree line along with the scout force traveling along the compacted earthen road.
"You fought these machines on that unclaimed world, Frost," Lieutenant Garber said over the tac net. "Any suggestions?"
Frost and his spotter had been studying the formations as they cleared the trees over two kilometers distant. "Forget the troopers. The remote sentries can handle them. We'll need to take out those drones. The medium and heavies with those weapons pods can do some serious damage if they get close enough."
Garber started issuing orders. When the leading elements of the enemy formation got within range of the concealed remote sentries, the robot guns would be activated. At that point, the snipers were to engage any and all drones on the field. Once the larger units coming up the road reached the clearing, Jake would engage them with the four Guardians.
The be more accurate, Jake would take Gatling Arm and Blitzkrieg out to engage the hunter/killer machines, tanks and other support units. The mobile cannons would be a different story. Those machines were powerful with thick armor. Even in battle mode, the Guardians would be hard pressed to pierce their thick hides.
Hawk and Claw would remain in the castle to defend the civilians, as they were armed with melee weapons. Jake was anticipating the Horde making it into the castle in his division of the group; they had to hold out until the promised reinforcements arrived from the Defiant. A squadron of twenty-four Bladewing fighters was already on the way. They simply had to hold out until War Wing and Falcon returned. Then all six Guardians would show Hordak what he was up against.
They ran out of time.
Concealed remote sentry guns were activated the moment the leading elements of the Horde army were picked up by each gun's passive sensors. In a blink, the guns went activate and began blasting away with precise, devastating bursts of explosive rounds. The snipers up in the towers of Castle Brightmoon opened up at the same time. Booms from two .50 caliber rifles were practically drowned out by the cacophony of a dozen sentry guns blazing away at the enemy. Troopers were torn limb from limb by the hail of explosive rounds. Others where blown off their feet.
While the troopers were dying, trying to get into range to shoot back at the concealed gun emplacements, the snipers carefully eliminated the drones. The heavy rifles were directed against the formations on the flanks, while Frost cut down the main force at the center of the formation. The drones were ugly looking things standing six feet in height, all angles and menacing machines of destruction. The scout version had two arms, a full suite of sensors in the head and was the fastest of the series. Medium-class drones had the right forearm replaced by a bulky pod housing a laser cannon, railgun, and 50mm grenade launcher. Heavy-class units were equipped with a weapons pod attached to each arm.
Marin called out targets, Frost shooting them down with his railgun sniper system. Oh, how he loved the weapon. While the .50 calibers were noisy, Frost's weapon was relatively silent. The discharge of the electromagnets could only be heard in the immediate vicinity of the rifle.
Most people assumed – incorrectly – that the central processing unit for the drones, troopers and shocktroopers was located in the head. It was actually located in the chest inside an armored EMP-proof shell. Troopers and shocktroopers had minimal external armor. Drones, on the other hand, were armored head to toe. While Horde science churned out robots by the thousands and made them durable enough to withstand most energy-based weaponry the Horde encountered, the ballistic weaponry used on Earth and by the Val-kyrie was another matter.
Drones shuddered to halt, some toppling over, the instant armor-piercing bullets and lightweight aluminum rounds penetrating armored chest plates. In a matter of minutes, almost a hundred rounds had been fired, and all visible drones on the battlefield had been neutralized. However, damage had been done; drones had managed to get into range and take shots at the remote sentries. Thanks to a barrage of 50mm grenades, all remote gun emplacements had been reduced to smoking mangled shrapnel.
Despite the losses, the army marched onward.
Machines did not care about losses to enemy fire. They followed their programming. Only the programmed orders mattered. Those orders were to assault Castle Brightmoon, capture the queen and any other high-ranking soldiers alive for interrogation, if possible. Kill all other organic people found inside.
Human defenders fought as if their lives depended in it -which it did. This was no ordinary probe, like the scout force encountered the day before. This one was loaded for a full-on war.
What they really needed was some air support. Eternia was still trying to get back in time to be of use. Supposedly, there was a full squadron of Bladewings in orbit that were coming in support now that the enemy warships in orbit had been dealt with. How soon they would arrive was unknown.
They did have four Guardians, however. Hopefully, they would be enough.
It wasn't.
The .50 caliber rifles emitted a distinctive muzzle flash every time it was fired; the approaching hunter/killer machines targeted the towers where the sniper nests were located and blew them away with a rocket strike. Frost's railgun did not have a distinctive muzzle flash, so he and his spotter were relatively safe, but it wouldn't take much effort for the bigger machines to zero in on their position.
Gatling Arm and Blitz converted to battle mode and began systematically taking apart the larger machines. They kicked and stepped on many of the troopers and shocktroopers, grinding them into the dirt. Three APCs opened up with the roof-mounted twin Gatling gun turrets. Enemy heavy machines fell to the combined fire, but more still kept coming.
Claw and Hawk remained in combat mode for ease of navigating the castle's corridors. They were ready when the waves of robots finally reached the gates. Defenders opened up with pulse rifles and grenades. Robot parts littered the floor. Machines waded through the carnage in their single-minded desire to retake the castle. Several soldiers fell to laser bolts. Others were wounded, but still able to fight.
Frost and Marin abandoned their position and hurried to the spiral stairs down to the lower levels. The pair followed the sounds of the pitched battle to ground level. The spiral staircase ended in a short corridor that formed a junction with a main corridor where wounded soldiers were being carted away for triage, while others rushed toward the battle.
Sniper and spotter hefted their weapons, Frost his pulse rifle and Marin a pair of swords with razor-sharp Etherium edges, and moved off to find another route to the battle. Their path brought them to a position just behind the advancing enemy line. They waited until several ranks of machines stomped past before alerting them to a second front.
Frost pumped several grenades into the formation that split them like Moses parting the Red Sea. The right flank continued advancing on the two Guardians, Anyssa and a very happy Dhalon. A burst of 11 mm rounds tore into the nearest shocktrooper. Marin boldly stepped past Frost and tore into the troopers with her swords.
Remarkably, the robots backed up when faced with this new threat. Two humans exposing themselves this way dressed in armor that might protect them for only a little while was either very brave, or very foolish. The delay in returning fire gave the defenders further up the corridor time to finish off the mass of robots and come to the aid of their comrades.
The assault only delayed the inevitable. A renewed push by the Horde pushed the defenders back along the main corridor, littered with debris and the occasional body of a fallen soldier. The battle was certainly not going the way they had hoped. As Frost and the others withdrew to the final defensive line at the throne room, he silently prayed for a miracle to get them out of this alive.
General Odran observed the battle from the relative safety of his command vehicle. These people used inferior ballistic weaponry, but they used it to great effect. Many civilizations had moved on from such primitive weapons long ago. That put them at a disadvantage when confronted with a species capable of using them in ways more advanced cultures had forgotten about. So it was with this battle. Their armor could not stand up to more than a few direct hits from Horde energy weapons. However, Horde armor was not up to the task of repelling armor-piercing projectiles.
The line of remote sentries had devastated the front lines of his formation. However, the medium and heavy drones made short work of them; that's when the sniper fire began taking out his drone units. Odran revised his strategy, but before he could protect his valuable support weapons, the snipers eliminated each and every one of them. He considered; he knew there were three snipers up in the castle towers. Telltale jets of flame revealed the locations of two nests, one each in the east and west towers; however, the location of the third was a mystery. His vehicle's sensors recorded what might be a railgun in operation.
Other than the Horde, only the Val-kyrie deployed such weapons, and that shooter was deadly accurate. Odran ordered missile strikes on the known sniper nests to cut down the odds, then turned his attention to the humans in the amazing suits of power armor. Hordak had warned him about these so-called Guardians; he watched as the two who had transformed their suits into bigger versions approximately five meters tall created havoc among the hunter/killer units along the flanks. The machines took a few direct hits and just kept on coming.
The one approaching on his left flank unleashed storms of plasma bolts from twin Gatling gun pods held in each hand. At one point the warrior retracted the pod in his left hand into the storage armature behind the left shoulder and materialized a scimitar-like blade on the left forearm, darting in close to engage the heavier units in close quarters combat.
The other Guardian utilized blaster rifles for long range precision shooting. Once the range closed to melee distance, the pilot used some form of beam weapons from daggers, darts and short-range energy weapons in the head to rip the right flank to shreds. The pair was backed up by several Val-kyrie APC units mounting twin Gatling guns that sprayed selected areas with lethal storms of explosive shells.
Odran left his medium units to keep these Guardians occupied while he pressed ahead with the bulk of the white-armor troopers and black shocktroopers. His troops were pushed back, but it was only a temporary condition, as sheer weight of numbers began shifting the balance in the Horde's favor.
Within minutes of the renewed push into the castle, Odran received the report he was waiting for. His troops had captured the refugees, Queen Angella and her daughter, Glimmer. There was an unexpected bonus. He-man and She-ra were also among the captives.
Odran opened his mouth to order the troopers to herd the prisoners out when an unknown craft soared past overhead from the south. It settled into a hover and disappeared behind Castle Brightmoon. Although he only saw the craft for a second or two, Odran recognized it immediately.
A Val-kyrie troop dropship.
Odran issued orders to hold the throne room and send a detachment to the north tower to repel invaders. The robot protested, but Odran roared at the machine to do as he ordered or be sent to scrapyard. Satisfied that his troops were obeying his command, Odran hoped they would be in time.
The miracle Frost was wishing desperately for was about to arrive in the form of an armored dropship dispatched from the Battlestar Defiant. In the belly of the troop dropship were two full platoons of armored and heavily armed Val-kyrie soldiers and two Guardians. Major Oran was leading the troops herself; like Colonel Markson, Oran did not lead her people from the rear. There were occasions when she had to coordinate actions while her people carried out the battleplan, but she was at home on the frontlines, with the troops she commanded.
The Sorceress was amazed and somewhat annoyed at Adrian. Seated next to her in the cramped troop bay, he was apparently sound asleep. Several other soldiers appeared to be in the same state. Sorceress could never get the hang of taking catnaps to recharge, though she acknowledged the necessity. In addition, the ride down through the atmosphere was far from smooth. Unlike larger vessels with bigger power reserves, dropships did not have the power or space for inertia dampers. Bumpy rides were something the Sorceress simply could not sleep through. She did, however, have a strong stomach and was not prone to motion sickness.
All sleepers perked up when Major Oran announced that they were minutes out from the castle. The troop bay became a flurry of activity as soldiers began final checks of their equipment. Adrian checked over the FN2000 rifle, pistols and other items in his war bag. He'd brought along the weapons as a backup in case War Wing's power levels dropped too low during the battle to continue the fight without recharging.
Adrian rose and moved to the back of the bay to the ramp, listening to the grim description by the pilots of the battlefield in front of the castle. Gatling Arm and Blitz were making short work of the Horde heavy units, but there were too many to take on at once. Mobile artillery units were almost within range, but there was an apparent plan to take them out by the Vakl-kyrie Bladewing squadron that had begun making strafing runs on the enemy. An Earth dropship pilot had come up with a way to take them out. Lieutenant Feril had had the idea of firing air-to-ground missiles down the bore of the cannon as none of the aircraft – Earth or Val-kyrie – had the firepower to penetrate the cannon's thick armor. The Eternia had been unable to punch through their thick hides even with the railguns launching explosive penetrators.
As the dropship moved into position in front of the castle's north tower, a cheer rang out through the bay. The first fighter to attempt a missile shot down a cannon bore had been successful.
Scratch one artillery piece.
The crewmember at the hatch punched the button to lower it to the horizontal position. Sounds of the battle reached them from the opposite side of the castle, muted by the structure. Even so, Adrian could tell it was a pitched battle. He spotted the last dropship returning to the battlefield; Colonel Markson had finally arrived and as deploying on the west side of the castle to add his APC's firepower to the other three already engaging the enemy.
A new report came in, of the Horde commander making a run for the castle's main gates. Evidently, the battle inside was not going so well. Adrian and his Val-kyrie allies had to deploy. Now.
Spying a lone balcony high up on the north tower, Adrian ordered the dropship pilot to hover over it. Oran, moving to the rear to take a look, agreed that this would be the best place to start a new front in the battle.
As War Wing materialized the wing backpack and blaster cannon on the right forearm, the Sorceress called out, "Wait! We need a plan of attack."
"That's my plan," Adrian replied, helmet pieces rising up out of the collar area to enclose his head. "Attack!" Stepping off the end of the ramp, he dropped from sight.
Sorceress hissed an unladylike curse under her breath and raced to the ramp, snapping out the white metal rod that rose up from along her spine. Everyone else watched in amazement as the rod extended into six-foot staff, a ball at each end and capped off on the top end with a falcon that extruded from the sphere and spread its wings. Sorceress never noticed because her eyes were glued to the form of War Wing in a controlled fall toward the balcony.
Two troopers suddenly appeared in the arched entryway, and as suddenly toppled backwards with smoking holes in their chest plates courtesy of Adrian's plasma cannon. The Guardian landed in a crouch, firing off several more blasts at unseen enemies, then took off into the tower.
"You see what I have to deal with?" Sorceress groused to Major Oran.
"I heard a rumor that Commander Harana speculates he is a Val-kyrie reborn in a male's body," the major said, grinning.
"Don't encourage him," Sorceress warned. Tapping into the mystical energies generated by all living planets, the Sorceress stepped from the ramp and made a graceful fall toward the balcony, the Guardian landing gently and calmly walked in Adrian's wake.
Not wanting to be left out of a good fight, Major Oran issued orders to her troops and directed the pilots to get the ramp down close enough to the balcony for the soldiers to jump. As powerful as the Guardians were, even they would need backup. And, besides, having bragging rights of going into battle with a Guardian was a very exclusive club, at the moment.
Following Adrian was not difficult. Sorceress just had to follow the trail of destroyed and dismembered troopers. She arrived at the base of the tower seconds after Adrian had been through, but the sporadic sounds of combat were still further away.
Adrian met up with Frost and Marin, almost getting shot in the process. Although, he commented, at least it wouldn't have been in the back.
"You aren't going to let the colonel live that down, are you?" Frost asked, keeping an eye on the surroundings.
"Oh, I will," Adrian promised. "Eventually."
A steady clicking of something metal striking the flagstone floor stopped further conversation. Frost and Marin tensed, weapons ready, Adrian remaining unconcerned, since the sound emanated from his backtrail. The corporal and his spotter relaxed when the Sorceress emerged from the shadows dressed neck to toe in Falcon's combat form. She tapped the staff against the stones to announce her arrival.
"What is the situation?" Sorceress inquired.
"Some general came storming in with a squad of troopers. They are guarding the throne room waiting for him to come out," Frost informed the Guardians.
"Dhalon and the Prin- I mean, Anyssa, are on the far side of the throne room cut off from us. The corridor circling around the back was evidently collapsed by several rockets fired by troopers," Marin added. "Not sure of the distribution of the platoons. A number of the soldiers have been killed. Not sure how many wounded."
"Comms are spotty. Horde jammers, most likely," Frost said, keying his mic. He only got static.
"Falcon, can you and War Wing break the interference locally? Enough to contact the platoon commanders?" Adrian asked.
"Possibly," the AI responded. "We have been working on the problem. Give us another minute and we should be ready."
The minute seemed to last a lot longer as the group waited for the AIs to finish whatever they were doing. Finally, Falcon announced that they were ready to make the attempt.
Static buzzed in Adrian's ear as he called out to anyone still on comms. Frost heard the call in his headset, but there was no response from anyone else. Falcon told him to keep trying as she and War Wing refined their adjustments. After a half dozen tries, Adrian was about to call it when a garbled voice responded.
"Barely," Lieutenant Garber responded. "Can just make out your voice."
"What's your status?"
"We're cut off from-" crackling "platoon. Couldn't stop troopers before they collapsed the corridor. We dug a hole to communicate so we can" -crackling- "strike. What's your status?"
Adrian informed him of his group's composition. If Lieutenant Howard could get in touch with Anyssa and Dhalon, they should be ready to strike when called upon. Garber said he would pass the word. There were two other entrances to the throne room, making three altogether. He and Howard could cover the other entrances if Adrian could attack from the main one. Adrian promised he would, creating a diversion for the other platoons.
"What's the diversion?"
"Trust me," Adrian assured the man. "You'll know."
The lieutenant's response was cut off. Falcon and War Wing could not keep the link going any longer due to the energy drain.
"So, what's the plan? I presume you have one now?" the Sorceress asked, a bit of mirth creeping into her voice.
"I always have a plan," Adrian returned. "I believe it's time to introduce another Horde general to Mister Syngenor."
Marin's brow furrowed in confusion. "Mister Who?"
Frost couldn't resist. "No. That's Doctor Who. Mister Syngenor is one of Adrian's creature forms. Anyssa didn't warn you about that?"
Marin shook her head. Frost only grinned devilishly.
General Odran was feeling pretty smug as he watched his troopers separate out the peasants from the more high-value prisoners. He wasn't surprised to see Angella and Glimmer. When Castaspella, He-man and She-ra were shoved to the forefront of the mass of humanity, he was surprised.
"Just so there is no confusion over who is in charge here," the general proclaimed. Pulling the laser pistol from his hip holster, he pointed it at a mortally wounded soldier from Delta Platoon, just touching the firing stud. A red bolt of plasma slammed into the man's chest, finishing him off. The cold calculation of the action was enough to give He-man and She-ra pause.
Troopers shoved outraged captured soldiers back into the mass of people. There was whimpering, crying and the occasion wailing child to contend with as the soldiers roughly controlled the crowd. Odran loved it all; the superiority of the Horde was undeniable. The Monstroids were still battling the two Guardians outside, but he discovered that he had two of them and their wonderous battlesuits in their small form right here in the throne room. Such valuable prizes to take back and dissect for the technology. Modulok would be indebted to him, Odran, for the technological boon.
If only that annoying thumping would cease. It started after the last of the people selected for transport back to the Fright Zone had been pulled aside, and appeared to be getting louder. Steady, rhythmic. Almost like walking.
Odran rounded on the nearest trooper. "What are you machines doing out there?" he demanded.
The trooper backed up several paces, turned and hurried over to the double doors. Moments later, the robot jerked spasmodically and toppled onto its back. The shaft of an arrow was sticking out of the chest plate.
The footsteps, and Odran was now certain they were footsteps, drew ever closer. Whatever was making that thumping sounds was now right outside the throne room.
Despite the nightmarish company he kept in the Fright Zone, Odran was unprepared for the monstrosity that stumped through the open doors of the throne room. The general had never even remotely heard a description of anything like the monster slowly walking toward him.
Two troopers, quick on the ball, swooped in and grabbed the creature by the arms. They died even quicker when the carapace armor on the thing's forearms instantly extruded backward-facing spikes that slammed through the chest plates as if they had been constructed of tissue paper. The dead robots collapsed when the spikes retracted. It had taken only a few heartbeats for the encounter to conclude. Heartbeats that did not impede the horror's pace.
"What is that thing?" another trooper demanded.
"Whatever it is," Odran declared, raising his pistol, "it's dead." The laser fired. Odran blinked.
Syngenor stopped dead when the bolt smacked into the bio-magnetic shield. Odran's aim had been true. Right between the eyes, if the bolt had struck home. Instead, all it did was ripple the shield. The creature cocked its head to the right. Odran's superiority complex fractured just a bit. He started having the same thoughts General Drax had the day before. And just like Drax, he wasn't going to get the chance to take the monster back for study.
"Everybody down!"
At the simultaneous scream from the commanders of Beta and Delta platoons, everybody hit the deck. Pulse rifles unleashed controlled bursts. Anyssa, Frost and Syngenor rapidly shot and stabbed all the troopers in their assigned section of the throne room. Odran found himself being batted aside almost indifferently by the creature before it snapped out claws from under the forearm armor, stabbing one trooper after another. It was over in seconds, with shouts of 'clear' all around.
People slowly picked themselves up from the floor as the soldiers reloaded their weapons and secured the area. Andre proudly proclaimed that she knew her monster friend would return to save them. With a lot of help from his friends, but she wasn't concerned with such trivial details.
The Sorceress arrived, fashionably late. "You threw a party here and you didn't invite me?" she asked Hawk and Claw.
The pair opened their faceplates, Brad answering, "Invite must have gotten lost in the mail."
Frost eyed Syngenor expectantly. "He's about to show us something."
"He's about to show everyone something," Sorceress added.
True to dramatic form, Adrian transformed back to his human shape wrapped in the comforting confines of War Wing's combat mode. Clomping over to the fallen Horde general, Adrian grabbed him by the throat, hoisting him up and slamming him bodily against the wall.
"We got us a pair of bookends, my friend," Frost replied. "Drax yesterday. Now this guy."
Adrian looked the general over with a critical eye, Odran clawing futilely at Adrian's armored hand clamped around his neck. "Looks a little scrawny. Might be better to throw this one back." Helmet pieces unpacked from the collar and enclosed his head.
With Horde jamming still in place, the defenders had to start the new offensive on their own. Lieutenants Garber and Howard rallied what was left of their platoons. Anyone still reasonably mobile was handed a rifle or pistol and joined the group fanning out along the main corridor. Queen Angella was left to safeguard the civilians and look after the wounded while the Guardian Force set about ending this battle.
Jake and Jeromy were not having a nice day. Taking on the Horde machines had been comparatively easier than the twenty-foot Monstroid robots. Their armor was thicker, harder to breech and their programming as far more aggressive than anything Horde Prime had ever thought to install into his robot armies.
These monster machines could be taken down, but it took a lot of effort. After expending a lot of power battling the Horde army, combat with the Monstroids was draining their suit's energy reserves to dangerous levels.
A particularly nasty piece of work loosely resembling a crab launched itself at Gatling Arm. Metal bodies collided like a train wreck, metal grinding on metal. Jack just managed to stay on his feet, but the beast machine was pressing hard. One claw gripped Gatling Arm's left arm while the other tried to crush his head. Jack retracted the gun assembly from the right hand to its storage behind the right shoulder, a rectangular pod materializing on the right forearm. Crab bot jerked suddenly. An Etherium-edged blade had punched through the machine's back amid a shower of sparks and shards of metal. Gatling Arm threw the dead Monstroid aside and struggled to his feet.
Jack took a moment to scan the battlefield.
Six mobile cannons sat inert from Val-kyrie attack runs. Feril's idea to lob air-to-surface missiles down the cannon bores had worked better than expected. All six smoked from various ports, residue of internal explosions from the missile detonations. However, the aerial strikes had not been without cost; half of the attacking Bladewings had been shot down by anti-aircraft guns. Thankfully, while the planes had been lost, all the pilots had managed to eject safely and were in the process of being recovered by a search and recovery party sent out by Colonel Markson.
What remained of the Horde strike force was in retreat. General Odran flew through the main doors of the castle, hit the top landing, and tumbled down the stone stairs. Landing battered and bruised at the bottom, the man struggled to his feet and tried to get to his command car on wobbly legs. After several unsteady steps, he realized that his vehicle was a smoking ruin. Troopers cut off from the larger group in retreat returned to their commander to assist.
A large green-skinned creature stomped through the open gates, a laser rifle clutched in each taloned hand. Slit nostrils sniffed the air. Round orbs for eyes searched the field for its quarry. Troopers saw the threat, racing to engage the rat-faced horror. Laser bolts blasted the robots back down the steps. One lucky shot destroyed the rifle in the creature's right hand. Not that that bothered it; it dropped the weapon and punched an onrushing trooper square in the chest. Metal crumpled under the heavy impact, bending support structures and crushing the delicate circuitry the structure was supposed to protect. The robot collapsed into a twitching heap.
"Always gotta make an entrance," Jake echoed Frost's favorite comment, grinning.
Another trooper tried to tackle the rat-faced, green-skinned monstrosity. The collision barely moved the monster, who had planted its feet and braced itself. Robot and creature tangled briefly, the machine predictably losing in the end. A barrage of laser fire blasted the area, forcing the creature to dodge out of the way. It dove into a shoulder roll and tumbled down the stone steps, the remaining Horde forces losing sight of it. Troopers tracked the monster to the burned-out hulk that used to be Odran's command car. Adrian, reverting to human form, activated War Wing's combat mode and waited for an opening. A lull in the laser fire smacking against the warped armor plates did not present itself.
Time for Plan B, Adrian thought.
War Wing shot up into the air, the flight pack and foot boosters flaring. Sensors recorded the positions of all remaining hostiles on the battlefield, along with the locations of each Guardian. Two Monstroids followed the flight path of the streaking Guardian as it changed form once more. Somersaulting once more, War Wing crashed to the ground in a kneeling position, both arms held straight out in front, hands grasping the power plasma blaster rifle the materialized in them. Adrian half squeezed the firing trigger, a narrow beam shooting out and striking a monster machine armed with pile drivers for arms. The energy beam quickly melted a hole in the armored chest plate. Once through, Adrian fully depressed the trigger, unleashing the full devastating power of the rifle.
The plasma beam, quadrupling in size, almost instantly burned its way through the enemy machine. Ruptured power conduits sparked and sputtered. The compromised power core that was the Monstroid's heart overloaded. The upper half of the deadly machine disappeared in a vaporizing fireball.
Falcon, Claw and Hawk transformed into battle mode and targeted two Monstroids at War Wing's back. Falcon aimed the business end of her psionic lance at the further machine and its backpack full of weaponry. Electromagnetic energy arched all over the machine's surface. It ground to a halt, collapsing into an immobile pile of useless technology.
Hawk twirled the energy-bladed sickle over her head, rearing back and hurling it at the back of the closer Monstroid. The plasma blade burned through the back armor as if it were tissue paper. Normally this type of Monstroid was capable of altering its form into a kind of tank on treads. The sickle severed several vital connections, freezing the Monstroid in a partial reconfiguration, unable to complete the shift. The beastly machine toppled to the ground on its left side, quite dead. Hawk darted to her fallen foe to retrieve her weapon.
Claw and Falcon had finished off two more of the Monstroids. Of the six that had stood when the other Guardians had engaged them, only one remained.
The last Monstroid standing was another of the type armed with a weaponry backpack and laser pods on its forearms. It had initially zeroed in on War Wing, but something drew its attention off to its right. Claw reported, his sensors detecting a group of people trying to skirt the edge of the battlefield in an effort to reach Castle Brightmoon. Several of the women screamed and pointed as the hulking machine bore down on them.
"No! Don't do it!" Adrian yelled at the enemy machine. His words were clear, broadcast via the external speakers, but the Monstroid did not care.
Number Nine took careful aim at the cowering group of flesh creatures. It dragged out the moment, trying to maximize the terror before it sent the insignificant creatures to oblivion. Carefully aimed storms of plasma bolts peppered the back of the mechanical nightmare but did no appreciable damage. Blitz and Gatling Arm, their power levels dangerously low, could not mount a sustained attack to destroy the enemy. War Wing couldn't blow the Monstroid away with his rifle because the group of people were within the blast radius. Muzzles glowed with pre-charge energy; the glow brightened as Number Nine unleashed its destructive power upon the defenseless people. Anguished cries of despair and pain were abruptly cut off.
"NOOOOO!" Adrian roared.
War Wing's eyes, normally green in color like the other suits, instantly shifted to red. Primary and secondary wings flared out. All thrusters in the trailing edges of the wings, flight pack and feet ignited at once, flinging the battlesuit high in the air. The mecha came down squarely on the Monstroid; it tried to throw itself out of the way, but hesitated an instant too long. The cacophony from the collision reverberated across the battlefield.
As if a switch had been thrown, all conflict on the field ceased as combatants, human and machine, stopped to bear witness to the scene of a Guardian enraged.
Number Nine reared up and threw its assailant away from him, quickly regaining his feet. War Wing flipped, flaring out his wings and making a gentle landing, facing his enemy to the south. A previously undetected Monstroid, this one with a head resembling a cobra with its hood flared, stood over a kilometer away observing the fight. Both human operator and AI took note of its position and sent a command to one of the three missiles in the launcher mounted in the forward part of the shield on the left arm. A new voice echoed in the cramped cockpit.
WEAPON ZERO ACTIVATED. FORM AND CONFIGUATION INCOMPLETE. OBJECTIVE RECOGNIZED. ENEMY IDENTIFIED. COMMENCE DESTRUCTION.
The shield arm rose, panels protecting the muzzle of the missile launcher retracting, targets assigned to the three miniature weapons in the magazine. A steady tone indicated target lock. Adrian squeezed the trigger on the right control stick.
Three missiles rippled from the open port in rapid succession. One seemingly went off course but homed in on the assigned target. Number One, seeing the danger, turned and flung itself away from the field of battle. The missile slammed into its back somewhere but did not explode. The Monstroid did not pause to consider its good fortune. It simply retreated as fast as its mechanical structure could go.
The two remaining missiles crossed the short distance separating Guardian and Monstroid in a blink. Both impacted the broad chest plate, blowing sizeable holes in the armor. Instead of following the missile strike up with a finishing blast from the plasma rifle. War Wing dropped the deadly weapon and executed a power leap to bring him in close to his target. Blasters mounted in the head and collar blazed away at the machine while the right fist and neutronium-laced shield point repeatedly pounded the reeling machine. It wasn't enough to defeat the Monstroid, the Guardian pounded and kept pounding until the damned thing was a smoking pile of scrap metal.
An uneasy peace settled across the area. All thoughts of combat were forgotten as the spectators held their collective breaths, waiting for what would come next. War Wing's red eyes scanned the scrapyard of a field, looking for new enemies to smite; with the enemy before him executed, the search was on for the next one. Before he could take a single step, Falcon landing directly in his path. Sensors scanned the battlesuit that was very much like his own, but it did not register as an ally.
"Are you my enemy?" Adrian transmitted directly to the other suit's operator. His voice sounded strange even to him, but it did not register. All that concerned him was where his enemy was located.
"No, I'm not," the Sorceress answered.
Even so, the suits locked themselves in in a hand-to-hand death grip, Etherium alloy hands locking around alloyed fists as the two AIs tried to outmuscle one another. Fortunately, they were evenly matched, but the stalemate wouldn't last for long.
"Falcon, break in. I need to own him," Sorceress grunted, throwing all her will into the symbiotic meld of organic and machine. Even so, Falcon's feet skidded back at least a yard.
Falcon's replied was strained. "Working. He's not making this easy despite the backdoors we agreed to have built in when we were upgraded." There was a lengthy, uncomfortable pause. "Something's not right, here. War Wing has changed in some way I can't identify."
"Just clear me a path through his defenses," Sorceress choked out. Beads of sweat broke out on her face from the strain. "I can't hold him back for much longer."
Falcon's feet skidded backward several feet for a second time. War Wing was putting all his energy into trying to shove Falcon out of the way. Sooner or later he was going to break the impasse and try going around her. If that happened, a lot of people were going to die. By now, Adrian had become convinced that Falcon and the Sorceress were not allies and anyone backing them would also be enemies.
Sorceress was about to demand that the AI hurry up when Falcon finally gave her the word. "Almost there. Once through, the path won't last for more than a moment or two," the AI reported. The strain of whatever she was doing to burrow past War Wing's defenses was evident in her voice; both had about reached the breaking point when Falcon whispered, "Now."
The Sorceress dropped the psychic barriers that prevented the thoughts of others from intruding upon her own thoughts in unending waves that would have quickly overwhelmed her. She no longer saw the closeup image on the cockpit screen of War Wing's head. In her mind's eye, Sorceress saw a visual representation of a tunnel leading straight into the other suit's operator's compartment. Unthinking, Sorceress made a psychic dive straight at Adrian Cobretti.
The Sorceress threw her head back and screamed in agony. Falcon echoed that with one of her own as both woman and machine sought to end this without further bloodshed. The lights inside the cockpit flickered and died. It took the AI almost fifteen seconds to reboot all her systems. When she could see again, she was greeted with a pleasing sight, such as it was.
War Wing stood immobile. Inert. For all intents and purposes – dead.
A quiet moaning drew Falcon's attention back within herself. The Sorceress was the source of the sounds that seemed to be a combination of moaning and crying. Although the compartment was cramped, her operator had managed to draw her knees up to her chest despite the four-point harness, had her arms tightly wrapped around them and had her eyes squeezed shut against some terrible pain.
"Are you all right?" Falcon ventured. She had to repeat the question twice more before she received and answer.
"Did…did we do it?" The Sorceress' voice was barely above a whisper.
"Yes. We stopped him." After a pause, the AI added, "The battle is over. Looks like the Eternia is coming in for a pick up."
"Then take me home."
As War Wing had demonstrated before the senate oversight committee, Falcon moved of her own accord. She made room for the starship to hover over the powered down War Wing where the crew could use a specially designed cradle assembly to winch a battlesuit back aboard through the drop bay. Instead of waiting for her turn, Falcon walked beneath the open doors for the number one bay on the port side and thrust herself up and into the hangar.
The fighting was officially over, with a mess of functioning troopers being disarmed and corralled out of the way to be dealt with later. It was now time to pick up the pieces and figure out just how badly the Guardian Force had been hurt.
The battle for Castle Brightmoon was over.
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